I've seen it all go, we've been here before
by RedQuarter
Summary: It's merely an echo, he knows. A fraction of a truth that has been ebbing at the back of his mind for the longest time. As he watches a castle crumble by his hand he knows this is the only role he ever could have filled. He realizes it, watching the silk tapestries burn the stone walls come unhinged. He was always meant to be the villain, and damn if he doesn't play it up.


_**Once a traitor, always a traitor.**_

It's merely an echo, he knows. A fraction of a truth that has been ebbing at the back of his mind for the longest time. As he watches a castle (_not his though, oh no_) crumble by his hand he knows this is the only role he ever could have filled, despite previous teachings. His lips curl into a tired smirk as he recalls what a golden lion once told him. "You choose your own path, son of Adam." No, he realizes, watching the silk tapestries burn and stone walls come unhinged, he was always destined to be the villain (_though that much depends on who you ask, doesn't it?_), and damn if he doesn't play it up.

* * *

It started as an order, he remembers (_When will you learn to do as your told?)._ Peter, High King Peter, had sanctioned the entire plan, and stamped Edmund's name on it. And well, Edmund, Edmund had to follow because oh he knows his place and if the High King wants him to infiltrate a neighboring kingdom, than he shall begrudgingly do so. Orieus swears they are planning an attack but really it's all just whispers (_But do they_ _know what is whispered about Edmund_?). They only wish to use him (_because lies slip off his tongue like honey, they always have_) to get close to their (_his_) enemies and then get out, because it's dandy and fine if he's a traitor, just as long as it's not his relatives that he's betraying.

* * *

So he inserts himself as a weary traveler, the works and all, makes it look as if he has truly been attacked and then wonders off into the land of his supposed foes. He is spotted quickly of course, by a knight in shining shining armor and the rest of his hunting party. They asked the standard questions (_Who are you? Who are you? What happened to you?)_ and escorted him back to their castle. They left him about in the infirmary for the first while, but once they realized how clever he was (But they really didn't, because then they would have known wouldn't they have?) he easily rose in the ranks (_Really, it was almost child's play for him. Too easy,_ _much too easy to be comfortable_.) until he was the generals right hand man, and that meant attending council meetings and well, the queen would not have a stranger advising her so she made him not so much a stranger and that in itself was already problematic.

She was young _(But oh, so was he_) barely three years older than himself, and she was not made to lead. She was brash and selfish, controlling and precocious, but she meant well (_He wishes she didn't_). She meant well, and she had passion, something he's so lacked for so long. She was often angry, furious even, and never thought before acting. She lit up like a flame to the slightest things. She was reactive and brilliant and fire, she was fire. And he was ice and he didn't want it to work this easily (_No, not at all_) but it did and soon he found himself as the Queen's closest assistant and he knew far too much not to tell (_Secrets you can only keep so many of them at a time.)_

* * *

Archeland (_Their close aren't they? Allies even.) _was responsible for the assassination of her father (_long live the king_) and she'd wanted revenge (_But she knew nothing of war_). She had plans to storm Archeland as soon as possible ( _a horrible plan, she couldn't possibly win_.). And him, he knew none of this (_Only inklings, loud tinglings in the back of his mind_) until she screamed it with death in her voice at a council meeting and then stormed off. But later that night she lied on his shoulder and said she hadn't a clue what she was doing and Edmund understood wholly. He could see her flame fizzling (_he wouldn't have her turn into him_) and saw the raw fear of the future in her eyes and thought he might just keep this information to himself for a while. But then he remembers that Narnia relies on Archeland for crops and safety and he knows he has to inform Peter _(and he does_) because his first duty is to his country but oh, he still understands.

* * *

Preemptive, it was all preemptive. Make the first strike- why not, they have the element of surprise. Orieus leads the charge of course, all other warriors dangling on the edge of his every command, poised and ready and _vicious_. His people _(but they're not people, are they?)_ storm the castle. They throw doors off hinges and decapitate guards without a second thought. They crumple and destroy everything in their path (There's no church in the wild.) and then retreat as rooms begin to cave in and flames climb higher and higher (_heaven is burning, like hell, hell is burning, hell is always burning, heaven is hell)_. Edmund doesn't leave though- no,no, no. He wants to, he wants to walk away forever, from everything, and never come back. He wants to disappear to somewhere, far far away _(But he already did that once)_ where nobody else exists and scream until he can feel his throat burning and his eyes stinging, but he can't. So he stays and strolls through the ruins.

* * *

He finds her in the throne room- they only have minutes till it collapses. Her dress is torn and her crown askew, but he feels no pity. As she stomps through rubble and debris there is still fury in her eyes, and determination laced in every movement of her body and all he can feel is jealousy- envy twisting it's way through his veins, tainting whatever part of him isn't already poisoned and damaged. She knows she is to die here, today, now and she knows she's lost the game (i_t's a pity she'd no idea she was playing one)_ but she's still human and she's still free and he thinks he could hate her for it if he didn't already love her. And she looks at him like she knows- she won't call him out on it though.

Instead she crosses the room and takes his hand and suddenly they're both lying on the ground; Broken shards of glass are cutting into their backs and all they can hear is the whoosh of fire _(this must be what gods sound like when they topple)_ but they're comfortable. They shouldn't be- she should be furious, hitting and yelling- and he should be impartial to everything- cold and disconnected. And they would be but at the moment she doesn't have the effort to feel and he doesn't have the effort not to.

In another life, if she were selfless she would've told him to leave, forced him to even, and in another life, if he weren't so selfish he would've obeyed. But in this life she simply asks him to tell her a story _(it's the least he can do)_ and he obliges. When he begins to speak they stop hearing everything else- like the world suddenly stops and instead of dropping, pins are floating in midair. He tells her of a little boy, a stupid, snide little boy, who entered a strange land and died in it. It's and awful story, really, there are no swashbuckling heroes or people worth saving. There's just the boy. She asks what came between his arrival and his death (_ he wants to say nothing_) and he almost smirks as he says the word, one word,_ Betrayal_. She laughs at that and as the roof finally crashes down and the smoke fills their every sense he laughs too- because once a traitor always a traitor, and that's just the moral of the story.


End file.
